Hospital beds have been known and have been used for many years, and under a variety of applications.
Existing hospital beds, including various kinds of hospital beds, the patient must be moved before changing bed sheets. In many cases the disabled or some patients cannot leave the bed without the help of others. This is a hardship for patient family members and the nurses, and more importantly, it may cause pain and discomfort to the patients. For those who are injured in the cervical vertebra or the vertebra, suffering from various kinds of serious injuries, or a patient recovering from a surgery, it often causes secondary injury if the patient is moved, and this also further hinders patient recovery.
Changing bed linens in a hospital or healthcare facility is necessary and advantageous. It allows the hospital staff and patients to promote cleanliness and prevents unnecessary infections, ulcers, injuries, or losing expensive hard-to-replace items. Changing the bed linen while the patient is still on the hospital bed carries significant challenges, both for the patient, and the caregiver. Multiple steps need to be taken to make the task possible. However, these steps are not without drawbacks and limitations, for example:
(1) Making arrangements for assistance: Assistance is required whether one is at a hospital, a skilled nursing facility, or at home. If one is at the home, then one would need a friend or a family member who would be willing to help out;
(2) Scheduling helpers: Learning how to provide the care needed without straining ones back or otherwise injuring oneself is not only important but it is very challenging too;
(3) Positioning the bed: The quality of the bed and adjustability are very crucial, trying to work with a non-adjustable medical bed is not practical, as it will make bedside care extremely difficult. Further it requires more people and this creates a crowded area around the bed, which restricts maneuverability, such as, having two to four people doing the task;
(4) Raising and lowering the ends of the bed: For example, when patients have congestive heart failure or respiratory disease, a hospital bed's ability to raise the head of the bed up will greatly help the patient to breathe more easily, moving the patient out of the bed or rolling him on either side or lifting him up;
(5) Side rails and safety: Side rails and safety are extremely important to have if the patient is confused or may become confused in the future, and this also prevents a patient from falling out of the medical bed;
(6) Keeping linens flat and smooth: Wrinkles in the bed, or the bed sheet, or any debris will irritate the skin and cause discomfort as well as injury to the skin. Some patients become so sensitive that they cannot tolerate anything at all lying on top of their feet, even a bed sheet;
(7) Need to reposition patient up in bed: If assistance is not provided, the patient remains slumped down too far toward the foot of the bed and will not only feel uncomfortable, but the position can interfere with ease in breathing and also cause unnecessary pressure on the base of the spline and result in skin breakdown;
(8) Need to avoid dragging: When a patient experiences difficulty turning him or pulling him up in bed, pulling or pushing him without lifting will result in dragging his body across the bed. Dragging him from side to side or up in bed can cause injury to the skin;
(9) Draw bed sheets used to lift or turn: Draw bed sheets used to lift or turn has been widely used to help changing the bed sheet. However, it needs high level of training and it is not without pain and discomfort;
(10) Turning the patient: In hospitals, it is a standard procedure to turn or roll a patient in bed every two hours to avoid skin breakdown and bedsores from developing, as these complication is associated with significant distress to both patient and caregiver and they are extremely difficult to treat when they occur. However, in some cases, at the very end, it will not be appropriate to turn the patient in bed, because this could be more disturbing or painful at the time;
(11) Changing the bed sheets: Changing the bed sheets job is very difficult, especially for the immobilized or paralyzed patient, and it needs a lot of patience and nursing technique. However, changing the bed sheets on a regular basis is extremely important not only because it can help patient feeling more comfortable; but also keeping clean and dry are part of preventing infection, skin breakdown, or bedsores, from happening;
(12) Dealing with urinary Incontinence and bowel Incontinence: If urinary and bowel incontinence are occurring on a regular basis, one will need to place incontinent pads underneath the patient. These can be reusable and washable (made of cloth) or disposable. One will also need to place incontinent briefs to absorb urine and help keep the skin dry. These will need to be changed and washed every few hours as needed as the pads are also used to collect feces and other discharges and must be removed before changing bed sheets.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,006,378 (Mitsuru Hayashi) discloses a bed which permits changing of bedclothes without moving the person on it and without substantial burden for either the patient or the care-taker. A left and a right carriage member 5 and 6, wheels 15 to 18 and a shaft 7 constitute a carriage. The carriage supports mats 11 and 12 via balancing members 3 and 4 and shafts 1 and 2 and advances the mats 11 and 12 along rails 31 and 32. The mat 12 is stretched between the rails 31 and 32 by fasteners. The balancing members 3 and 4 are rotatably coupled by a shaft to downward extensions 5a and 6a of the carriage members 5 and 6. The shafts 1 and 2 are rotatably mounted in the balancing members 3 and 4. With advancement of the carriage caused by turning a grip 26, the slides 52 and 54 cause the old mat 12 to be released from the fasteners and wound on the shaft 2, while also causing the new mat 11 to be coupled to the fasteners and stretched between the rails 31 and 32.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,594,837 (George Khait) discloses a service bed comprising a chassis, a guide mechanism movably supported by the chassis, and a mattress having an undulation formed by routing the mattress through the guide mechanism. The guide mechanism includes dispensing and collecting rollers for installing at least one first stratum between the mattress and the occupant of the service bed and for removing at least one second stratum installed between the mattress and the occupant.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,191,479 (Xiao-Zhou Cheng) discloses a hospital bed that changes bed sheets without moving the patient. It is composed of a bedstead (including a headboard, a footboard and a bed frame), a deformable bed top, a spool rack and roller shafts on both sides; the ends of the deformable bed top are fixed on the headboard and footboard respectively, and the bed top is pressed into between the roller axles by the spool rack which forms a tightened and leveled bed top that is sunken in the spool rack. Two bed sheets cover the bed, extending respectively from headboard and footboard into the spool rack and rolling on a roller axle. The roller axles and roller shafts are parallel to the cross section of the bed, and are movable between the headboard and footboard with the spool rack. When the spool rack is moving, one bed sheet is spread, another one is rolled up automatically.
This invention improves on the deficiencies of the prior art and provides an inventive bed apparatus which allows the seamlessly changing of bed-sheets while the bed is occupied by a person, and a method thereof.